Work

University physical education course experience and resilience-based psychological recovery capacity among students in Chinese higher education: indirect associations through emotion regulation, exercise self-efficacy, and peer connectedness

Year: 2026

Type: article

Abstract: University students face increasing psychological pressure, yet formal mental health services often remain limited in reach and depend on active help-seeking. This study examines university physical education (PE) as an educational context whose perceived qualities may be associated with psychological resources relevant to adaptation under stress. Using cross-sectional survey data from 831 Chinese college students, we examined whether perceived PE course experience was associated with resilience-based psychological recovery capacity and whether this association was indirectly linked through emotion regulation, exercise self-efficacy, and peer connectedness. The retained measurement specification represented PE course experience as a second-order construct comprising teacher support, mastery climate, embodied engagement, emotional release, and peer interaction. Structural equation modeling indicated that PE course experience was positively associated with resilience-based psychological recovery capacity and with all three proposed indirect-linking variables. Bootstrapping results supported significant indirect associations through emotion regulation, exercise self-efficacy, and peer connectedness, with exercise self-efficacy showing the largest estimated indirect association. The association remained significant after controlling for perceived stress and extracurricular exercise frequency. These findings link perceived PE course qualities with resilience-based adaptive capacity, conditional on the measured covariates. They do not isolate curriculum effects from physical-activity exposure. Because the design is cross-sectional, the findings should be interpreted as theoretically grounded associations rather than causal effects.

Source: Frontiers in Psychology

DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2026.1908934

Authors: Wendong Yang, Liangfang Meng

Institutions: Hubei University of Arts and Science, Xianning Vocational Technical College

Language: English

Topic: Physical Education and Pedagogy

Subfield: Education

Field: Social Sciences

Domain: Social Sciences

SDGs: Quality education, Good health and well-being

Open Access status: gold

Estimated APC paid: $3,801